Authorities have located the car Maleah Davis's stepfather was driving the night she went missing

HOUSTON (WDAF) -- Authorities have located the vehicle that 4-year-old Maleah Davis’s stepfather was driving the night she went missing.

The car, a silver Nissan Altima, was found Thursday morning at a Wal-Mart in Missouri City, Texas, just outside of Sugar Land, according to Tim Miller, the director of Texas EquuSearch, a search and rescue organization.

“I think this is going to give us an idea,” Miller told CNN. “They’ll process it and see what clues it can give.”

Maleah was not in the car, Miller said.

Maleah’s stepfather, Darion Vence, reported on Saturday that he was on the way to the airport with Maleah and his 1-year-old son to pick up Maleah’s mother from the airport. On the way, he pulled over to investigate a “popping noise,” he told police, and was knocked unconscious by three strangers who pulled up in a blue pickup truck.

When he woke up a day later, Maleah was gone.

The car Vence was driving en route to the airport had been missing up until now, according to police.

Their only lead was an image captured by a traffic camera that showed the Altima driving through an intersection in Sugar Land just before 3 p.m. on Saturday, several hours before Vence said he woke up and discovered Maleah was missing.